Michael Harling's Blog, page 2

Italy: The North – Part II

Day Three – Parma ham and Vinegar

Parma: a lot of history and cathedrals, but I’m only here for the ham.

Friday, the 4th of July, we went to Parma. It was a long trip, but the bus had air conditioning and comfortable seats, so it wasn’t bad. It was also the first time we were properly introduced to our tour group. They are scattered throughout the city, and our hotel is the closest to the lake. Fortunately, the others seem happy with their locations, but that’s only because they don’t know...

Italy: The North – Part I

Intro

Last autumn, having sadly overlooked Italy during my first 23 years in Britain, we decided to visit the southern region. It was a lovely holiday, so we followed it up with a trip to the northern territories. What we had not factored in was that this holiday began four days after our Devon holiday, meaning the laundry was barely dry before we had to repack and hit the road once more.

Day One – Garda

Our flight was so early that, when we got up, my watch had not yet turned on. It ex...

Doing Devon

Where No One Can Hear You Scream

Some months back, we got it in our heads to do a bit of glamping. Fast forward to now and we’re in an Airstream caravan (a 1956 American Classic) and it is … interesting.

Camping in Style

The trip took longer than it should have and made difficult by the on-again off-again rain (we’ve been enjoying clear skies, hot weather and drought conditions for weeks, but we go on holiday, and it rains) and the fact that we’re heading to Devon. In the summer.

This...

De-Plastification

I had the unfortunate occasion to read an article about micro-plastics the other day. Here’s the tl;dr version: There is no good news. The human race is essentially a huge lab experiment run by the petrochemical companies to see just how much plastic can infiltrate the human body before it becomes lethal. “Poison is all about the dose,” one chemist cheerfully related.

I didn’t lose any sleep over it, and I’m sure you’ve stumbled across similarly alarming articles without letting them ruin you...

Nine and a Half Days

I’ve gotten a lot of feedback, and milage, out of my previous post about swearing, which gave rise to more than a few interesting discussions. Suffice it to say that people have differing views on, and tolerances for listening to or participating in, swearing. And I remain convinced, as far as swearing goes, I have yet to meet my match.

By a strange coincidence, I ran across this YouTube Short in my feed a day or two after I posted that blog. It’s quite funny, but I warn you, if you have any ...

I Swear

This is not me taking an oath of office, nor expressing exasperation, as in “I swear, that boy hasn’t the sense God gave a goose!” No, it is a statement: I swear. A lot. And, until now, it never occurred to me to wonder why.

My first realization that I possessed this talent came when I was quite young—eight or nine, or perhaps as young as seven. I know this because by the time I was ten or eleven I felt very grown up, and in this memory, I was still a child. We were playing with the neighbour...

Because I Have to Write Something

Yes, I am still alive, and in quite good (ish) health, thank you very much.

I am aware, however, that (despite my assurance this would NOT become an old man’s blog) you are aware that I am not getting any younger, and I am aware that you are aware (by the by, according to the WHO, I have only recently attained middle age) of that, and, therefore, allowing this blog to fall fallow for even a few days, let alone six weeks, might stir in some of you the suspicion that I have gone to the Big Blog...

Dear England

Dear Lord! My butt still hurts!

The one thing I can definitively say about the play Dear England is that you get your money’s worth. I saw it at the Olivier in the National Theatre, and it does go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and then, when I thought it was over, my wife informed me it was the Intermission, after which it went on, and on, and on, and on, some more. Ticket prices ranged from £25 to £99 a seat, or about four pence a minute.

I went because my brother-in-law really like...

The Tyranny of the Teethologists

I went to the hygienist yesterday, so I’ve had my scolding for this month:

“Are you brushing twice a day?”

“No.”

“Well, start, or your teeth will fall out.”

“I shall.”

“Do you use an electric toothbrush?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.” Said with more than a hint of disappointment.

Encouraged, I press on: “And I got myself a Waterpik , like the last hygienist suggested.”

“Oh.” Said with a healthy dollop of glee. “We don’t recommend those anymore.”

“Bugger.”

Other water flossers are...

A Small Step For Man

My wife and I use pedometers to record our daily steps, and have done so since at least 2010, which may even pre-date the advent of the 10,000-Steps-a-Day myth.

NOTE: I just Duck-Duck-Go’ed it; it’s not. (I use Duck Duck Go instead of Google—Gulf of Mexico my ass—and BlueSky as an alternative to (and, to date, in addition to) Facebook, and avoid Amazon whenever possible, though I have to say, keeping those three entities out of my life is a lot harder than simply not buying a Tesla.)

In th...